The Garden History Blog

All in a garden Fair, by Florence Pilkington c1928

“Chocolate Boxy” is usually seen as a term of critical abuse in art history but I suspect most of us have a soft spot deep down for the overly romantic images that the term conjures up. One of the enduringly popular posts on here has been one I wrote many years ago about an artist named Beatrice Parsons, and another which attracts a lot of comments was about the gardens portrayed on Raphael Tuck postcards  in the earlier part of the 20thc.   All of which could have been used on chocolate boxes as well as cards, calendars and jigsaws.

I thought it might be interesting to find out more about the artists who painted for postcards and chocolate boxes, but by and large tried in vain.  Their name or initials was often all that I had to go on. I didn’t even know if they were male or female and most seem to have left little trace.

I still haven’t come up with very much on any individual  but I did find enough to introduce you to a handful of artists who I”ve been calling my Chocolate Box Ladies – and before I’m accused of sexism – there will be a few  Chocolate Box Gentlemen soon.

The Old English Garden, Battersea Park, by Annie Pressland for Salmon postcards

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Portlandia grandiflora by Mary Delany,  

The Portland Rose

Peggy  was one of the great figures of the social, scientific and horticultural circles of Georgian England. She was intelligent, curious about almost everything with a wide network of friends across all fields of knowledge but especially botany and other aspects of natural history. Of course it helped that she was born into a powerful aristocratic family and was, as the only child, immensely wealthy which  enabled her not only to marry a Duke but indulge her interest in gardening and collect anything that took her fancy – from plants, to shells, art and antiquities.

In an age of great collectors she rivalled the greatest. So why isn’t she better known?

from the Aztec Herbal

Gardens and medicine are closely intertwined in every culture, and were even more so in the past when most remedies were derived from plants. Yet much of that knowledge has been lost and  I suspect few of us these days would have a clue about their useful properties – the only one I can think of immediately is using dock leaves to counter nettle stings.  So perhaps you can imagine the surprise on the face of Dr. Charles Clark when he discovered the subject of this post in the Vatican Library in 1929.

Now usually known as the Aztec Herbal it turned out to be a remarkable find- although probably not really because of the efficacy of its medical recommendations or even of its horticultural significance. I’m not sure you’d want to try its suggested treatments either- but even if you did you might have problems finding them. Read on to find out more about the gardens where these plants grew and which ones could help if you have a headache, scabies, a pain in the eye or worse….

from the slightly later Florentine Codex

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